Feb. 14 (BusinessDesk) – New Zealand Post became the latest major employer to announce job cuts as it closes its Datamail centre in Petone, Wellington, at the cost of 70 jobs, and axes 30 jobs in Auckland.

NZ Post cuts 100 jobs from Datamail, 70 in Wellington

Feb. 14 (BusinessDesk) – New Zealand Post became the latest major employer to announce job cuts as it closes its Datamail centre in Petone, Wellington, at the cost of 70 jobs, and axes 30 jobs in Auckland.

Datamail, which prints junk mail for advertisers, will close the Petone site in mid-2014, will offset the cuts with the creation of 30 new positions in its Christchurch Datamail operation.

The company is investing in new printer technology and no longer needs as many machines to meet demand, so is closing one of its three sites.

The announcement follows reports that Contact Energy, the largest listed electricity company on the NZX, will cut its 1100 workforce by 10 percent as part of a $40 million cost-cutting drive, and 192 job losses at an unprofitable Oamaru wool-spinning operation.

“While the number of printers will reduce, the capacity will increase,” said NZ Post spokesman John Tulloch in a statement. “Our major competitors have this technology and not keeping pace would risk Datamail losing customers and not being able to provide the product range the market demands.”

NZ Post chief executive Brian Roche announced earlier this month that NZ Post wants to renegotiate its mail service agreement with the government, to reduce six day a week residential postal deliveries to three days a week, as it faces declining mail volumes.